Paws Up!
by XBrokenxDollsX
Summary: SasuSaku Cat Anthology/ o1: Domestic cats take on the personality and habits of their owners by constantly watching them.


**Prompt- **Cats and Their Parent(s)

**Fact- **Scientists discovered that domestic cats can take on the personality and 'habits' of their Owner(s)/Parent(s) by constantly watching them.

=xxx=

_._

_._

_._

**P**_a_w_**s **_Up_!_

Uchiha Sasuke yawned tiredly as he stumbled into his kitchen, taking in the small sunlight streaming onto his face like an owl to a bright bonfire. He grumbled darkly as he shuffled over to his small stove, grabbing the black kettle to fill it with water; until it was filled properly, he shut off his faucet and started his morning tea. After the stove was preparing his morning caffeine (which is better than coffee), he yawned again and stretched his back.

_'Breakfast...' _Sasuke grumbled in his thoughts as he opened cabinets and went over to the fridge. He pulled out two eggs and diced tomatoes when he felt something silky and soft rub against his leg. "Goodmorning, Tomato."

"_Mauuu..._" a female cat with sleek, black fur meowed in a grunt-like purr before taking off to jump onto the kitchen counter to peek out the sink window. Hearing a bird squaking outside, the female feline's ears perked as her yellow eyes narrowed with annoyance; a rumble of a growl in the back of her throat.

Uchiha Sasuke's cat, Tomato, was a female cat of all-black and yellow eyes. She was named after his favorite food in the whole wide world (ironically), and was given to him as a kitten by his older brother and Sasuke only found this cat to be the best companion that he could tolerate (not counting his friends, Naruto and Kiba). Tomato has grown a special spot for Sasuke, like a roomate that Sasuke doesn't have to complain about...

Because, well, Tomato is a lot like Sasuke.

Tomato finds it bothersome when Sasuke's friends barge into their small house, she doesn't like it when it's hot outside or people make a ruckus in his neighborhood; she especially hates annoying strangers, but likes to sit by Sasuke with the radio on the _good _station while he reads his books. They both like the smell of tea over coffee, healthy foods and manners at the dinnertable. For Sasuke, he had found the perfect pet.

And he wanted a iguana at first!

"Tomato," Sasuke muttered quietly as he set down a saucer of milk on the floor when his eggs finished cooking and the kettle whistled. He prepared his plate and tea in a leisured place and sat at the small wooden table and chair, eating at a calmed pace as Tomato lapped at the dairy with a rumble of purrs in her belly, completely content.

Flipping on the radio, Sasuke tuned it to the right station to hear the band of soft alternative in the middle of the chorus. Leaning back in his chair, Sasuke finished the last of his breakfast when Tomato's head snapped up toward the door, her ears twisting like satellites before she took off running with her tail high up.

Curious by her behavior, Sasuke sighed and turned off the radio. He got up from his chair and followed his feline companion over to the front door, which was closed; finding the skinny, beautiful cat to be perched with her front paws, her tail waving like _mad. _She was obviously pissed about something outside his front door. Sasuke blinked in confusion. He had his front yard fenced off from annoying dogs and pesty teenagers for a reason, so he couldn't think of anything else to get her so riled up.

"What's up?" Sasuke asked with his hands in his pockets as he moved the curtain out of his way to see better. Tomato opened her mouth to growl, her fangs exposed, as she pawed at the window like a drumset. Tomato was an outdoor cat, so whatever was out there, Sasuke knew that she was going to chase it and try to end its life...

A black cat with white front paws was pawing on a dandelion that was sprouting on Sasuke's front lawn. Giant, green eyes stared at the weed before the cat did a childish leap at it and rubbed its paws into the dirt. The tail was curling interestingly when the strange cat tilted the flower over and began nipping at it.

Twitching out of the mere idea of having a cat _ruining _his yard (even though he doesn't take care of it for shit), Sasuke wasted no time to take three lazy steps to the front door and open it for Tomato, who gradually sprang out off the front step. Sasuke just pouted his lips and watched what would happen next.

The white-pawed cat had successfully plucked the dandelion from the ground and was now carrying it by the stem in its mouth. Sasuke found it as the most oddest thing for a cat to do with a simple weed, and wondered who in the right mind would have a cat like that? He noticed the cat having a lime green collar with a silver tag and bell to match, but was unable to read it from the distance. He watched Tomato slowly prowl toward the stupid animal, slow and evil, like a tiger or a lion... and the unknown cat simply perked up toward Tomato - mind that the dandelion was still in its mouth, dangling - it's head tilting to the side once Tomato was only five inches away from it.

"Nyaaa!" the strange cat mewled with its mouthful before jumping towards Tomato, bopping their pink noses together, causing the female cat to jerk back and hiss before it scrambled away. It pranced to the metal fence and leapt up to the top, gracefully getting over to the otherside. With the yellow weed dangling in its mouth, the cat took one last glance at Tomato and Sasuke before flicking its tail to the side in challenge and taking off.

When Sasuke observed his cat, he witnessed the sleek, black fur standing at the tips, bristling in anger before the hot-tempered cat chased after the stranger. Sasuke blinked, not taking much of the situation as an emergency, but he didn't like the idea of Tomato chasing another cat when it was so early in the morning. Cars could be lerking at the corners of people getting ready to get to work or people letting their dogs out to take a morning leak.

Clad in his plaid-patterned pajama pants, Sasuke reached at his sweatshirt and pulled it on before leaving his house in his sandals. He closed the door and made it out of his front yard through the metal gate, locking it to keep stray dogs or children out of his messy lawn. He mowed, when needed, but when weeds or dangling grass started in his flowerbed, he didn't care. He shuffled with his hands in his sweatshirt pockets as he grumbled about the annoyance of morning breezes, cats invading his personal property, and the fact that Tomato ran off without her usual warning of meowing to Sasuke. It was still too early for birds singing or children screaming, slightly cloudy and not glaring sunshine into his face...it was good weather, at least.

Hearing the sound of fussing meows and bell-chimings, Sasuke sighed and turned around the corner of his small block. It was made up of small, two/three bedroom houses with yards, so it wasn't a very crowded, neither spacious. When turning the corner of the bricked wall, Sasuke saw Tomato, all bristled-furred and snarling, as the strange cat that stole his dandelion made a playful pounce at her before darting into another yard. Who's yard it was, Sasuke couldn't tell with the thick greenery of bushes covering it all up, but it seemed that there was not gate-door blocking its way like the others. Tomato, of course, took after the cat to bring Sasuke's frustration into a much bigger fuss than before.

"Tomato," Sasuke called out in a whisper, not wanting to cause more arguments with the neighbors who were still sleeping. He knew that his cat could hear him just fine, and she usually listened to him.

Usually, was the magic word.

He figured Tomato would howl out at the cat when she got a hold of him, but as Sasuke ventured closer by the bushes as tall as he was, the less he could hear of angry cats fighting. Scrunching his face, Sasuke found this behavior of his cat hard to believe in - since Tomato was not the one to draw back from a fight - and he took the idea that Tomato had chased the cat farther through the yard and probably made it to the other side. Great.

He was about to check to make sure that was true, and bent his head at the corner of the brush to peek into the secluded yard. It was a small house, similar to Sasuke's white house, but this was colored greyish-blue and was literally a forest of flowers and other plants. Blinking, Sasuke examined the white porch that was filled with different flowers, plants, hostas and vines with small vegetables sprouting from it. It was green and other pastel colors, and the smell of sweet fragrances invaded his nose, totally relaxing his troubles in the new enviroment. He saw the strange cat pounce onto the porch, avoiding the hosta plant that nearly brushed under its belly and disappear behind a pot and leafygreens. Sneaking into the corner post of the porch's stairs, Tomato emerge and started to creep up toward the nuisance that made all this nonsense; the tall man took this chance to sneak into the yard, grab his cat and leave all this alone when-

"Oh, hey there, little kitty," a female voice snapped him out of his plan as he went for cover behind the bush to see a petite, young woman emerging from the tall plants where the cat went into. She was fair-skinned, thin and had short-spiked pink hair, emerald colored eyes that popped out from the combinated color of the plants and a doll-like face. Dressed in a long-lengthed tank and shorts, the pink-haired woman knelt down infront of the steps, holding her teamug in one hand and reached out carefully to Tomato, who only made it halfway up the four steps before freezing on the spot.

"You're a very pretty kitty," she spoke softly as Tomato dared to take another step up and sniff. Sasuke inwardly scoffed, knowing that his darling fuzzball hisses and growls at whoever offers a hand (like when Naruto met his cat for the first time) and would expect the woman to jerk back when Tomato showed her what she felt about being offered a piece of trash and a minute passed by with nothing of that sort.

Instead, Tomato allowed her to be stroked ontop of her delicate head and _relaxed _under the touch, allowing the woman to smile a bit bigger and venture a bit closer to rub behind the cat's ear. Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight, wanting to get Tomato out of there in an instant.

"Ichigo-chan, did you bring a pretty friend home?" the woman asked with a giggle, turning to head a bit while Tomato leaned her head into the hand that was stroking her cheek gently. The cat who was in Sasuke's yard came back out, trotting, and three more yellow dandelion stuffed in his mouth before plopping down by the lady's side, tilting his head at the side when Tomato perked up and meowed outloud toward the silly-feline.

The pink-haired woman blinked and glanced between the two cats before giving a silent 'Ohhh' and giggled lightly. "Silly, Ichigo-chan. Stop going into people's yards, you annoying nugget," she scolded lightly and ruffled the scruff of the cat's neck, causing the white-pawed animal to drop the weeds at its feet and actually climb up the woman's back and perch itself on her shoulder by hanging over the gently curve. Looking at Tomato, the lady pouted to her. "I'm sorry, pretty kitty... Did Ichigo-chan invade your territory?" Carefully, her pale arms reached and _picked up _Tomato by under her front, keeping the distance between the stupid one and the angry one at a good space. "I bet you ran away from your home to catch my naughty-boy. Lemme find your address and I'll take you home- Oh, your name is Tomato? That's a lovely name! I grow tomatoes in my garden. A lovely name for a lovely cat, I must say..."

Sasuke watched carefully when the woman carefully put his cat down and got her teamug, playing with the tag gently as she sighed and settled down on the step. "I will finish my tea and then I will take you home, Tomato-chan. Don't mind Ichigo anymore, he doesn't use other kitties litterboxes." The woman cooed cutely as she started scratching under Tomato's chin.

For Sasuke, that was the last straw.

Straightening his back and making the darkest, uncaring look that he could muster, Sasuke strolled with his hands in his pockets. It didn't take long for Tomato to twist her head and meow in greeting to him, like she usually does, and have the strange, pastel-haired chick look up with a surprised expression, making Sasuke smirk on the inside. However, she didn't blush like other girls and women do when he...just walks passed them.

"Oh! Is Tomato-chan your cat?" she asked right away before smiling, standing up with her tea in hands and cat on shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I think my cat was prancing in your yard and he must've bothered Tomato."

"Hn..." Sasuke twitched in the lip. "Keep your cat outta my lawn. It pissed mine off."

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that!" she gasped worriedly before glancing down to Tomato, who was rubbing herself against the stranger's leg and heightening Sasuke's annoyance. "You see, Ichigo has this habit of going into people's yards-"

"Obviously," Sasuke ground out.

"-and he likes to pull on people's weeds and brings them home to throw away," she finished rather shyly as she played with her fingers. "It sounds lame, I know, but I guess Ichigo-chan picked it up from me... I garden a lot and I guess Ichigo wants to help out by bringing me weeds; it's funny because he doesn't bring me mice or birds, but he stashes them for later in that old doghouse over there, which makes no sense," - she gestured to the old-looking doghouse with the faded kanji of 'Pakkun' written ontop of the opening, which had plants plopped ontop of the roof and around it - "But he just happens to bring me dandelions and buckweed!"

"You talk a lot."

"Aah, I know. I do that when I'm trying to make the situation easier on you," she hiccuped a laugh, and Ichigo (who was still on her shoulder) seemed to have grinned naughtily at Sasuke. "My name is Sakura, by the way. I don't think I've seen you here before..?"

"Hn."

Instead of feeling rejected, like other girls, she beamed a smile. "Yeah, I'm not much of talk when meeting someone new, but... What am I saying? I'm just talking away, aren't I... I'm probably bothering you, and you seem very tired! Ichigo-chan must have woken you up, I bet. I promise it won't happen again, okay?"

Sasuke blinked tiredly and rubbed his chin before dropping down and picking up Tomato, who was still showing _pleased _gestures to Sakura, and stood back up while holding his cat like a baby infant. "It's fine. Just drop it."

"Aw yeah!" Sakura smiled brightly as she waved her hand. "I'll make sure Ichigo stays out of your yard from now on, since you don't live that far away." She pet Ichigo's head by reaching her shoulder for him, which he mewled and cuddled his face into her palm. "I'm sorry again for all this nonsense, but I hope you have a good morning. It was nice to meet you, too!" She called out and waved as Sasuke bowed his head and left the yard.

Sasuke started muttering lightly about the nonsense of _Sakura's _pink hair, _Sakura's _pretty yard and _Sakura's _pretty smile. God. He was already having a bad day and it was all because of _Sakura _petting Tomato and his _cat _liked it. A lot. And also the fact that she was being so damn _sweet _and gentle with both his cat and himself when he showed nothing but coldness...

Sasuke twitched a brow as he felt Tomato shift to look behind Sasuke, back to the bushes of Sakura's yard, and started to purr against him. He felt his chest tighten at the memory of that kindhearted, down-to-earth and _pretty smile _Sakura. Sasuke was so not going to be having that damn _Ichigo _go into his yard; digging up his weeds and having Tomato chase after him just so he could see Sakura again.

But _damn _she had a pretty smile.

_'...Shit.'_


End file.
